SEE YOU AT E3 2018!

Agent Highlights: January, 2018

01/29/2018 12:00 PM

Greetings Agents,

Well… if we could sum up this first month of the year in a single word, that word would be “wow”! Cosplay, art, music, film; we have seen it all. January 2018 has surely been one of the best months of community content that The Division has had so far.

Not for the first time, so many fantastic creations have reached us that we have found it very difficult to whittle things down to the usual number of agents featured in these articles. But this time we thought we'd expand the list a bit!

Let’s celebrate this exceptional month with a bumper edition of Agent Highlights!

You probably know how it works by now: all featured agents will receive an in-game gift of 1000 Phoenix Credits

“Have I gone rogue or just filled with rage slightly?” he asks. Your guess is as good as ours, but you can certainly tell that something is not quite as it should be. Miguel has done a nice editing job to convey this loss of control.

What can we say? Exploring the Dark Zone is a stressful job.

The following images lean on the winter theme of The Division in very cool ways. It is that time of the year, after all! Firstly, there is this from long-time Division cosplayer Agent Mab in Japan.

You may recognise Mab from her #AgentActivated project last year. She is also one of the people working on #MissingAgents – we shared a teaser of it in last month’s article. We are still very curious to see what that is all about. In the meantime, try not to catch a cold out there, Mab. And good luck with the move!

For this next picture, we move over to Germany for a picture from Frostie and Hiji.

There is no snow to be seen, and yet this image feels very cold and harsh. The grey sky, the barren trees, the face paint, the expressions the outfits; it all comes together to create an atmosphere that jumps out at you. There are more pictures from their shoot on Twitter, so be sure to check them out!

There are two very different pieces of fan art on display here. First up, we have RetroHurricane’s “friendly neighbourhood sleeper agent”.

It’s dark, it’s gritty, but it’s also a bit cheeky. We like your style, Retro. Those bright green eyes definitely stand out in contrast to the rest of the picture. A nice touch.

The level of detail in this picture is remarkable, from the texture of the weapons to the reflections and shading on every object. The metal surface which covers the whole image is impressive enough on its own.

This is a diverse category indeed. Three very unique pieces of work that equally deserve to be seen and appreciated by all.

We begin with some fan fiction from Matt Shields, jingle writer extraordinaire for our State of the Game stream. Matt is writing a story set in The Division’s post-outbreak New York entitled “Survival”. It is very faithful to the game, with a few familiar faces and locations, and it looks like Shields is only just getting started. We’re looking forward to seeing where he takes it.

Next, there is something we’re not sure we’ve had before: a dramatic monologue by TheRealCrazyJo from France: Agent Stories – International School

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

The video follows Agent Jo as he explores the International School in Kips Bay and recounts his experiences in this building as the virus swept through the city. Jo’s performance brilliantly conveys the melancholy as his character relives the past, and we found it very touching. Great work!

Here is another piece of storytelling that focuses on the past, and it very interestingly uses an in-game feature as a narrative device. It was posted late last month, so we thought we’d still include it. This is “Echoes”, made by the guys at Orbital Thunder in Australia.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

In this short film, a Division agent analyses an ECHO in the aftermath of a parking lot shootout. This video’s lovely editing actually makes it tough to watch at times. The gunshots and the impact of the bullets (added in post-production) give the action weight; you really feel every hit. The whole thing is a very cool idea!

We couldn’t decide on a single team favourite. Again. Nothing new there. The dilemma was between a bunch of songs this time, because we have been hit with a slew of music in the last few weeks. So in the end, we were always going to end January’s article with a couple of tunes.

The first of our two favourites should be familiar to some of you: Wild Max. He has been getting a lot of audio-visual goodness out there for a long time, but we think he has outdone himself with one of his latest creations. This is “Bourbon: Faye’s Theme”.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

Max describes it as “part of my project bringing to life the feelings I get playing The Division”. This eerie but beautiful piece is predominantly piano-led, but there is so much going on around it – such as the drums, the choral chanting and a guest appearance from Faye herself – that the song’s sombre nature is offset by a nervous energy. This vision of New York is a sad state of affairs, for sure. But there is danger around every corner, so you don’t have time to dwell on the past for too long. And we think this song reflects that mentality very well.

And finally, something we have eagerly been waiting for. Sage has been teasing it, we’ve been talking about it. Now, it is finally here. Sage’s original piece, entitled “Lawless”.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

Sage, seriously, what a voice!

There are two things that stand out to us in this song: First of all, Sage makes the very interesting choice of beginning the song with just a hint of fuzzy electric guitar over the thumping rhythm of the acoustic guitar. And it never returns after the intro. That subtle change makes a huge difference – the calm becomes so much more palpable after it happens. The second thing are the vocal harmonies that pop up as Sage recounts his experiences through “lawless” New York City. That last harmony in particular is just awesome! Despite the bleak scenes he describes, the song stresses the importance of carrying on in the face of adversity. We like that message. And if it wasn’t clear already: we like this song!

And there we have it: January’s Agent Highlights. The community has really upped its game yet again; just when we thought we had seen it all, you continue to surprise us. And we couldn’t be happier about that. What do you have in store for us next month? Let us know by sharing your work with us with the hashtag #AgentHighlights.

ATTENTION: Agents, please follow @TheDivisionGame on Twitter so we can get in touch with you for the rewards.

This week, Petter and Yannick provided an update on the connectivity issues players have been experiencing In the last couple of days, announced the extension of the ongoing Global Event and showcased a couple of recent community creations.